A8443  by Tom Reynolds

SCOPE sends out information on various gun control laws proposed federally or in NY State and usually these notices can be relatively brief and still get the message across.  But occasionally – or more often - a bill is proposed that is so outrageous and strikes so straight at the heart of the Constitution that it requires further explanation.

Assemblyman Phillip Steck (Democrat 100th District – Schenectady Albany) has climbed that mountain when he proposed Assembly bill A8443.

As many of us have unhappily experienced, NY State now requires a background check on purchases of ammunition which has resulted in frequent and unnecessary delays.  (All a part of Hochul’s plan?)  Many NY residents, with easy access to another state, have chosen to cross the border for ammunition purchases and bypass the NY background check and related fee.  (A reaction not unexpected by anyone.)  

Under Assemblyman Steck’s bill, the NY Attorney General can bring civil and criminal actions in NY State courts against any NY State resident or the ammunition seller in another state, when ammunition is purchased in another state and it does not go through NY State’s background check.

For example, a NY State resident in Waverly NY drives a couple miles south into Sayre PA and buys ammunition without undergoing a NY background check.  NY Attorney General (Leticia James) can have him and the seller arrested, in NY State.

Or, a NY State snow birder in Florida buys ammunition in Florida, without a NY background check, and uses it there.  Leticia James could come after him and the seller under A8443.

By the way, it is bureaucratic to get licensed to use the NY background system so an ammunition seller in another state has little incentive to do it. 

And what about on-line purchases, which have to be accomplished through a NY FFL who would has to perform a NY background check.  Will the on-line seller also have to duplicate the NY background check to be legal under A8443?

Basically, Steck wants to prosecute you if you legally (under the laws of 49 states and federal law) buy ammunition in another state.

Imagine, for a moment, that NY State passed a law setting the maximum speed limit at 55 mph everywhere in NY State.  Afterwards, a NY State resident while in Pennsylvania drives 65 mph – where the speed limit is 65 MPH.  Using his logic, NY Assemblyman Phillip Steck believes the NY Attorney General should prosecute that motorist in NY State for exceeding the NY speed imit.  (After all, it would be good for ‘Climate Change’.)

One of the reasons that the Articles of Confederation were abandoned in favor of the U S Constitution was interstate issues.  The founders knew that a federal government was necessary to handle interstate issues.  But even in the 1780’s, who would have imagined a Phillip Steck?

Article I Section 8 of the U S Constitution says that the U S Congress regulates interstate commerce.  Assemblypersons take an oath of office to, “support the Constitution of the United States…”  Can we anticipate an impeachment proceeding against Assemblyman Steck for violating his oath of office?

F Y I, the related parts of the bill are as follows:  A08443

“The (N Y State) attorney general shall have the power and duty to…Seek and obtain injunctive relief to prevent any individual seller of firearms or retail firearms dealer from knowingly selling ammunition to a resident of the state of New York or to an individual who purchases ammunition on behalf of a New York state resident without contacting the New York state police for authorization pursuant to section two  hundred twenty-eight of this chapter and any other law, rule or regulation. “

“The attorney general shall have the power to enforce the provisions of this  section  by  bringing  civil and criminal actions in the state courts of New York.”

Obviously, SCOPE opposes this bill as should anyone who truly believes in the U S Constitution.